American Eel (Anguilla rostrata)

Photo by John Lyons, WDNR

Overview

Overview

American eel (Anguilla rostrata), a State Special Concern fish, prefers large streams, rivers and lakes with muddy bottoms and still waters. To reach these conditions the eel has to traverse a wide variety of less suitable habitat including swift-flowing waters with a wide variety of substrates. Spawning occurs in the Sargasso Sea.

State status

The table below provides information about the protected status -
both state and federal - and the rank (S and G Ranks) for American Eel
(Anguilla rostrata). See the Working
List Key for more information about abbreviations. Counties shaded blue have documented occurrences for this species in the Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory database. The map is provided as a general reference of where occurrences of this species meet NHI data standards and is not meant as a comprehensive map of all observations.

Note: Species recently added to the NHI Working List may temporarily have blank occurrence maps.

Summary Information

State Status

SC/N

Federal Status in Wisconsin

none

State Rank

S2

Global Rank

G4

Tracked by NHI

Y

WWAP

SGCN

Species guidance

A guidance document is not available at this time. Use the information from the other tabs and contact local biologists, as needed, to develop management and avoidance strategies.

Wildlife Action Plan

Natural community (habitat) associations

The table below lists the natural communities that are associated with American Eel. Only natural communities for which American Eel is "high" (score=3) or "moderate" (score=2) associated are shown. See the key to association scores for complete definitions. Please see the Wildlife Action Plan to learn how this information was developed.

Natural community

Score

Ecological landscape associations

The table below lists the ecological landscape association scores for American Eel. The scores correspond to the map (3=High, 2=Moderate, 1=Low, 0=None). For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.

Landscape-Community combinations of highest ecological priority*

Ecological priorities are the combinations of natural communities and ecological landscapes that provide Wisconsin's best opportunities to conserve important habitats for a given Species of Greatest Conservation Need. The 10 highest scoring combinations are considered ecological priorities and are listed below. More than 10 combinations are listed if multiple combinations tied for 10th place. For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.

* Ecological priority score is a relative measure that is not meant for comparison between species. This score does not consider socio-economical factors that may dictate protection and/or management priorities differently than those determined solely by ecological analysis. Further, a low ecological priority score does not imply that management or preservation should not occur on a site if there are important reasons for doing so locally.

Issues/threats and conservation actions

Conservation actions respond to issues or threats, which adversely affect species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) or their habitats. Besides actions such as restoring wetlands or planting resilient tree species in northern communities, research, surveys and monitoring are also among conservation actions described in the WWAP because lack of information can threaten our ability to successfully preserve and care for natural resources.